I was inspired by conversations on Tumbler about how awful "Autism Speaks" is (did you know, they advocate feeding your autistic child bleach, to cure them -- seriously. How is this group even legal?). Stock characters from horror movies, the lot of them!

The word "nature" is in a bright floral colored camouflage (like) pattern against black. The letters in "Diversity" are a diverse set of fonts; the "v" is replaced by a LGBTA-Pride striped heart, and the "e" is turned into the wheel on a blue "Wheelchair Access" symbol.

The text is in two lines, and is positioned high on the chest, so it can be more easily read when the wearer is sitting in a wheelchair.(Description ends)

Actually, to be honest, the very first thing I thought of, reading that, was the quote from the Fourth Doctor, explaining how he defeated the story's Villain: "Well, to be fair, I did have a couple of gadgets he didn't -- like a teaspoon and an open mind." (<-- paraphrased, maybe?)

But that's more evocative of a singular victory over a single foe, and not as fitting for something like dismantling the hegemony of bigotry (pick your ism, or pick all of them) in our culture. Besides, it's copyrighted by the Beeb. And I wanted something copyrighted by me (I'm contemplating making this a shirt and/or button (Badge) design for my Zazzle shop).

Today, I remembered a shirt I hand-painted for myself, back when I was taking horse riding lessons... I had a bad habit of holding my breath when I was concentrating on something, so I made a shirt with "Breathe!" painted on it in dimensional fabric paint ...

Upside down, so I could read it when I looked down...

And today, the idea came to me that an update of that design would be something other people could appreciate.

So, this is definitely a creature I want to put on Zazzle merch over at my store (Chimer(i)gons), but as I said on Thursday, I didn't think he was ready for prime time... Scanners being what they are, and computers not seeing outlines the way the human eye does, it was difficult to scan the image I'd drawn and make it clear, rather than muddy, and distinguished from the background.

So I went over it again, in pencil, and fiddled and filled in blank spots, and got the whole thing generally darker and heavier. Then, after that redone image was scanned, I selectively deleted all the bits I saw as background, and then added highlights with my photo editor's "Brush" feature, and then, lightened the whole thing up again, and was finally satisfied with this:

Then, I noticed my photo editing program had a "colorize" feature, so I decided to experiment with that, too.

Good Green Apples! took me forever to get motivated for na'arting, today... Couldn't settle on what I was in the mood for drawing... after trying about four different ideas, finally decided to draw a "Seriously rendered" but "Cartoon" creature:

Question: would you wear a shirt with this figure on it? With a slogan/motto? Without one?

What I forgot is: that it had been so long since I'd done anything with my store, that they changed everything around on how you post anything for sale... so I had to relearn their whole system.

So much for "Taking it easy!" (ha). The good news is: they're having a back-to-school sale (today's the last day), so I bought this shirt and another, and got a discount.. which is good, 'cause I need some more long sleeved shirts that don't have holes in them...`[end of cross-post]

It's now after ten pm, and I've yet to have dinner. I should rectify that...

(I'm typing this with a cat firmly anchored in the crook of my right arm. There is no dislodging her)

57 minutes.

I've had this vague thought that I should write something New Yearsy today. But to tell the truth, I've been drawing a blank.

55 minutes.

Things I've been thinking about instead:

1) Douglas Adams and Richard Dawkins. They were sort of a pair when it came to speaking about their atheism -- I think Dawkins invited Adams to read from HHttG at one of his lectures, iirc. So I've kind of been puzzling through why Dawkins makes me clench my jaw after reading through three successive paragraphs, and Adams fills me with warm fuzzies. And I think I've figured it out: As a writer of speculative, humorous, fiction, Adams recognized that even if a story were untrue it still has worth, even if it's a religious story.

2) I'm really liking the way the series Chuck is winding up its final season. The Intersect, the hi-tech pseudo-scientific, quasi-magical plot device which has driven everything in the previous four seasons has been completely written out (saying how would be spoilers), but the story continues without it, based on the characters (who'd of thunk it?), and what they've learned and how they've changed because of the Intersect. Even though it's not there, now.

Really. Characters who are written as people who can be interesting even without the hook that got the show made in the first place. Wow.

I'm going to keep my eye out for this writing team, to see what they come up with in the future. Because that? is something every genre of series TV needs.

38 minutes.

3) My monster bear. That's what I've been working on this weekend. I'm working from the smallest, fiddly pieces up to the large central torso. So far, I have the snout, ears, and one arm sewn. The arm is... a lot skinnier, turned right side out, than I thought it would be. The main body is a "bright" maroon (not bright, bright, but vivid, and more red then blue) and for the highlight color (inside the mouth, the inner ears and inner arms) is gold-ish (recycled sweatpants that I first bought for my second attempt at my freshman year of college ... 25 years ago?) So my bear will be a mix of new and old. I hope the body won't turn out as proportionally skinny as the arms did -- or at least, that one arm.

27 minutes

4) 2011 was a mixed bag. Emotionally, I think I was just sadder than my normal average. But I did some / am doing some nifty stuff (Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream, my Zazzle store)

5) There is a New Year's Carol (which was considered nostalgic and old fashioned in 1647) with this as a second verse:

And now, with new years gifts, each friendUnto each other they do send;God grant we may our lives amendAnd that the truth may appear.Now like the snake cast off your skinOf evil thoughts and wicked sin,And to amend this new year beginGod send us a merry new year.

(To the tune of Greensleeves)

I wish New Year's was the Big, Gift-Giving Holiday, instead of Christmas. Because it's a (mostly) secular day; even cultures with different Official New Year days (Chinese, Jewish, Persian, etc.) recognize the Common Era calender, for business, if nothing else. So it's got the energy of a global cultural push behind it. And people could exchange gifts without wondering what holiday name to tack in front of it, and worry if they're using the wrong one.

And that global energy is one reason why the New Year (9 minutes) is a bigger, more emotional holiday for me, personally. But, because of all the local emphasis on December 25, nearly every one else around me is burned out just when I'm starting to want to sing.

"They" say shop owners can't expect sales to expand to outsiders until they reach a minimum of 1,000 products (I guess 'cause that's at the level where they start putting links to the store on the Zazzle home page). But at least I've gone a sizable way toward that goal?

Anyway, here's the shirt design that put me at #101:

[Description Quote]:"It's the End of the World as we Know it!" So warn the pundits and doomsayers of every generation. But the world as we know it is always ending, because it's always changing, and becoming something new. The text here features this familiar warning, but "end" has been crossed out, and replaced with "Start." And "know" has been replaced with "Imagine."

The graphic is hand-drawn line art of a map of the Earth, with the land masses filled with hearts and spiral designs. It was based on NASA imagery of Earth, rendered in the Peirce Quincuncial projection (centered around the north pole), which means that all but the smallest of Pacific Islands and Antarctica fit neatly, front and center.[End Quote]

b) Many of the shirts I still have are filled with Swiss-cheese-like holes.

So I decided that, when I got home from the trip, it was probably time to buy some new sweatshirts. Since I have a Zazzle Sweatshirt Store, I also decided to buy at least one of my own designs (hey, at least I know I'll like it).

Description:Whether you are a reader, a writer, or both, show your fantasy fan pride with this shirt!

The image features the Fantasy Plot Bunny drawn in the black and white style reminiscent of old-fashioned scientific illustration.

This creature has the head and tail of a rabbit, the body of frog, the wings and antennae of a butterfly, and the talons of a hawk -- just like the genre itself, it is well-adapted to almost any environment, and is both adorable and weird.

The creature's common English name (Fantasy Plot Bunny) is written above in bright fuchsia lettering, while the Latin scientific name (Sylvilagus Fabulae Alienigenae) is written in green, below.

Also, today was a special promo day, with 50% off shirts and mugs in total orders over $50. So I bought another sweatshirt of mine, and my plot bunny coffee mug, and paid 30-something dollars for the whole lot. I think that's a pretty good deal. If I say so myself...

And now, there's a Cat 3 hurricane that's set to graze our coast on Saturday.

Oh my!

Grocery shopping done: am now well stocked with bottled water, shelf-stable food (high-calorie, high protein, meal-replacement shakes, canned bean salads and soy and noodle stews I can eat cold if I Have to, cereal and fruit bars, powdered milk, shredded wheat, canned meat and fish [also good for luring kitties into the one interior room without windows -- since I can't scoop them up and carry them in]). On the to-get list: flashlights and duct tape (I want to make wall sconces, so I can hang them from the wall, and not have to worry about trying to hold one while driving my wheelchair.

I also have a hand-crank powered radio.

On the upside: Irene is sliding to the east with every passing hour. So maybe all we'll get is a good, dousing rain to put out that wildfire. And if I Don't need all that food for the immediate future, I won't have buy groceries for a while, yet. :-)

But I may be without internet/phone for a while, after Saturday.

---

In the meantime, in order to stop myself from sliding into a "Catastrophic Thinking Spiral," that prevents me from acting, and just gives me a tummy ache and prevents me from sleeping, I am going to Carry On as if everything is normal.

I'm thinking about writing a couple of "Formal Introduction" paragraphs for my Zazzle store, where I explain my philosophical link between monsters, Disability Culture, and Celebration of the Creative process, and how those three things fit together. And also to explain why I don't make my pieces open to customization, but if people like my style, and have a snarky/humorous idea for a slogan or product they'd like to see, they can email me, and I'll try to come up with something for them. ... Maybe the total no more than 250 words. ???

So -- it's art-making month over in Live-Journal land, and while I went in thinking I'd make a new something for my Chimer(i)gons store (nearly) every day, and really boost my inventory, it hasn't worked out that way.

But, since the start of the month, I now have four (4) new designs, and I thought I'd share them (it's been a while, hasn't it?). Image links are behind the cut, with brief descriptions of the products' mottoes (I've tried to write detailed descriptions on each item's product page, in the store):

"Cerebral Palsy is a Broad Umbrella" With a picture of a broad umbrella with a whole crowd of differently-postured people underneath (and maybe the word "normal" falling down as if it's rain around them). That was going to be today's daily art. But it turned out to be more complicated than a one-day project.

"Dear Pity Junkie: I'm not here to be your fix" I'm not sure what sort of graphic I could put with that that isn't ableist against those who require lots of drugs. Maybe just the words, and no graphic?

In other news, the Virginia State Assembly cut funding for home assistance for the disabled and elderly to 56 hours a week, and now, kids won't be able to have personal aides with them in school past kindergarten (even if they need someone trained in administering, oh, say emergency anti-seizure medication within 90 seconds to save their lives). So Audrey is now having to rethink her livelihood, and J's mother is seriously considering homeschooling him. However, the latter development is mostly because all his teachers and therapists are obsessed with "fixing" his weaknesses rather than developing his strengths. Right now, they're obsessed with getting him to cut paper with scissors, and won't teach him anything else until he masters that -- even though he is now able to finger paint quite well, and that skill could be expanded to writing and using a computer mouse, and heck -- making really nifty art (speaking of art-making month).

And this is why, my friends and readers, when you conduct a survey of "children's" developmental disabilities, their population seems to suddenly explode when you bother to look outside the classroom...

-- Sigh --

So yeah, the disabled are the first to get their rights to life curtailed and the last to get their civil rights protected.

Been looking for some hard numbers, because I've had this idea for a series of "Statement" tee-shirts, protesting the wording of commonly quoted stats relating to "Developmental Disabilities" (Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome), and I thought I'd start with C.P., since that's the shirt I'd wear.

I found one site which is (relatively) non-rage-inducing, because it's not as scare-talking as the doctor and lawyer-sponsored sites: My Child Without Limits.

Here's the paragraph I found on C.P. Stats:

(quote) It is estimated that two out of every 1,000 newborn children will develop cerebral palsy. And approximately 40% of those born with cerebral palsy will have a severe case. Right now, about 10,000 babies and infants are diagnosed with the condition each year. In 2002, the number of cerebral palsy cases in 8-year-old children was found to be one in 278. It is the most common motor disorder in children and is second only to autism as the most common disability in children.(unquote)

Okay, that first stat I've seen left, right, and center (though saying "2 out of 1,000" is clunkier than "1 in 500"). But how does it almost double between infants eight-year-old kids?

So. For months, now, I've had this C.P.-related design idea for a Zazzle Tee-shirt/mug/whatever that, today, sent me searching for images of infant brains showing C.P.. And that led to reading paragraphs around the images. And just now, I found the following (from a site aimed at medical people, based on the vocabulary):

(Quote) Approximately 30-50% of patients with cerebral palsy have mental retardation, depending on the type.[6, 7] However, because of oromotor, fine motor, and gross motor difficulties, communication in these patients may be impaired and expression of intellectual capacity may be limited. However, if cerebral palsy is approached in a multidisciplinary manner, with physical, occupational, and nutritional therapy to maximize rehabilitative efforts, patients can be more fully integrated academically and socially* (Unquote)

[Emphasis my own.]

This is what I have been saying for 20-something years, now. But if that second sentence is true, then the first sentence is false. Let me try to fix it:

Approximately 30-50% of people with cerebral palsy may not have been given full educational opportunities, and are thus classified as mentally retarded.

Object of discussion: Shirt (or mug, or mousepad, or whatever) with a picture of an alligator, and the words "Shameless Alligator," in fat hand-lettering.

Question -- Should I also add the word "Agitator"?

Either as:

A) "Shameless Alligator Agitator," or B) with "Alligator" struck out, as if fixing a typo, orC) Not include "Agitator" at all?

I've got everything drawn and inked, except "Agitator." and I need to make a decision before I scan it.

Thanks, in advance, for answering.

[Edited to add: I both Version B ("Shameless Proofread") and Version C ("Shameless In-Joke"); the in-joke one takes up less space (natch), so it's better for small items, like refrigerator magnets and trucker hats. I've got a trucker hat ready for posting for sale, but I'm stumped as to what to do for a description. So I'll post it tomorrow, after sleep.]

(Quote)Today, Helen Keller is known as the wild child who was rescued from darkness and isolation by her governess. But during her lifetime, Keller was highly respected as a social activist, writer, and leader.

This shirt features a quote from her editorial "Why Men Need Woman Suffrage," first published in the Socialist paper The New York Call, on the eve of World War 1 (now in the public domain): "old ideas are up a tree ... scurrying away before the advance of their everlasting enemy, the questioning mind of a new age."

Times are changing once again, Helen Keller's words remind us to keep questioning, and to keep challenging old bigotries.

The new illustration for this quote, in black and white line drawing, features two skeletal monsters, with birds' heads and feet, clinging to a dead tree while two hounds, with question-mark spots on their sides, are in close pursuit.(Unquote)

So -- next Monday is Helen Keller's 121st birthday, and so, to celebrate, I want to put up some stuff in Zazzle store with a few juicy quotes from her on rights and activism, with cartoon illustrations. The one I've wanted to do for nearly a year now is this:

"... our old ideas are up a tree ... traditions are scurrying away before the advance of their everlasting enemy, the questioning mind..." The New York Call, October 17, 1913.

Folks who were with me for last year's National Art Making Month (August) might remember how I was puzzling out how to illustrate "old ideas" in a visual way, as they scamper up into the branches of a tree while hounds with question-mark spots are close at their heels. Some ideas I worked with was old men whose heads and faces were personified thought balloons, or personified books with tattered covers, and the words for outdated ideas ("bigotry", "NIMBY", etc.) on their covers.

And then, late last night, the idea came to me: skeletons -- maybe "monster" skeletons (human bodies with bird skulls, maybe) -- dressed in rags. Y/Y?

So I want to start practicing drawing that. But the light in my office has burned out, and it's cloudy, so I don't really have strong natural light, and I slept poorly, and I'm just teetering on the verge of a migraine, and ... and...

Even though I'm happy that I have a good idea, I'm cranky because I don't have the energy to play with it right now. And I want to play! Now! But it's not coming out well, and...

I'm cranky.

Oh, well, the UPS driver was just here... maybe he brought me my new book... I will go check. That might cheer me up.

[ETA: It was not my book, but my apron... which is, yes, long enough to cover my entire front in case there is a surprise!doorbell when I'm not wearing any pants. ... So that's good. Crossposting to LJ failed, last time. I shall try again]